Good concept but the execution just wasn’t there. The story was slow and barely kept my interest. I love the concept of a locked room mystery but this required a lot of suspension of disbelief to work, particularly in the actions of the detectives and the main character. None of the characters were likeable. There’s a bunch of plot “twists” that don’t do anything for the story. There’s nothing relatable in this one.

I was so excited to read this one, I mean 20s themed party sign me up! But unfortunately the writing style was what I had the biggest issue with. I always love a book with multiple POV but in this case, with the changing from first person to third person, it really threw me out of the story. Some of the twists were really well done and that I didn’t see coming but overall I was bored for most of the book

I loved every single thing about this book! Firstly, locked room mysteries are my all time favorite and this one was done so well!! Next, the 1920’s themed party at a mansion in Maine was the setting and it was so much fun and atmospheric. Lastly, this is a YA mystery that is great for this time of year!

A group of friends throw a 1920s themed party and one ends up dead. In this locked room mystery friends turn against each other and divulge secrets. I had high hopes
for Suddenly A Murder, but it fell flat for me. Izzy and her friends were annoying and selfish, I was rooting for no one. The mystery held no surprises and I was not invested in the ending.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5/5 stars

This was a great mystery! With its spooky setting of a Mansion and a 1920s themed party, count me in!

I give it a 4.5 stars only because it started slow at first and it took me awhile to grasp all the many different characters. Further into the read I couldn't put it down and had to know what happened next. The cast of characters were unique and Muñoz did a great job of giving us bits and pieces of them as the book went on. I loved being able to sit on all the interrogations of each character for us to build a full view of what was going on. The twist was great and I was unable to guess the ending. This was a great read and I highly recommend anyone who loves a good whodunnit.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for the ARC.

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fun one; very teenaged Agatha Christie (there’s even a scene at the very end where the detective explains how the crime went down and how she figured it all out). Our protagonist is Izzy - her mom is a teacher at a super fancy prep school, but thanks to her friendship with Kassidy, one of the most popular girls in school, Izzy has never really felt left out or ostracized by her classmates. She hangs out and parties with them, but she always turns down Kassidy’s offers to join her family on fabulous vacations. I really liked Izzy and Kassidy’s friendship - there’s no mean girl/queen bee energy. Kassidy is super rich, but she’s also kind and generous and considerate (Izzy eventually realizes that Kassidy is a little offended Izzy never takes her up on her vacation offers - she’s not doing it out of pity, she just wants to spend time with her bestie). Kassidy’s boyfriend Blaine, however, is a bit of a tool. It’s interesting that he’s super popular and also a theater kid (usually those two things don’t go together, but I guess having lots of money and access to drugs will elevate one’s social standing). I feel like it’s not *too* much of a spoiler to say that he winds up being the murder victim, and literally everyone has a decent motive.

The bulk of the story takes place at Ashwood Manor, an old house (soon to be a museum to the classic films that were set there) on an isolated island. Kassidy has invited an “exclusive” guest list to celebrate their high school graduation in style. She’s packed authentic 1920s clothing and accessories for everyone, and to keep things truly authentic, she makes them send all of their baggage and technology back to the mainland. I liked this twist, as it’s completely in keeping with Kassidy’s character (she and Izzy love to dress up and act out their favorite old movies), but it also keeps technology from becoming a factor in the plot. No one is recording or taking pictures or sending secret messages. Old school. I dig it.

The guest list is sort of a ragtag crew, in spite of Kassidy’s insistence that it’s exclusive. There’s Izzy and Blaine, of course, as the bestie and the boyfriend. There’s also Ellison, the star athlete sure to be an Olympic rower. He’s sort of Blaine’s man crush, I guess? Blaine’s been hanging out with him a lot, much to the dismay of his best friend Fergus, a fellow theater kid with a huge (not entirely unrequited…) crush on Ellison. There’s also Marlow, another super rich kid who’s a bit antisocial, but Kassidy knows Izzy has a thing for him, so she invites him so they can *finally* get together. It’s real wing woman work. Then finally there’s Chloe, the class valedictorian who had a fling with Blaine that Kassidy almost certainly knows about. No one in the group is friends with Chloe, so it’s not entirely clear why she’s here, other than to widen the pool of suspects. She of course believes Blaine is going to break up with Kassidy for her, because she’s a teenager and teenagers aren’t that bright.

So they’re on the island mostly alone - Kassidy has hired a staff to take care of them for the week, but they’re essentially unsupervised (I was tempted to call BS on the fact that these people are mixing cocktails for 18-year-olds, but I assume they’re being paid quite well to look the other way). I kind of wished the staff had factored more into the plot. Kassidy tells her friends to just ignore them, as guests would in the 1920s, but there’s a moment when Izzy is confronted by one of the maids when it’s clear they know everything that’s been going on. I guess since Izzy’s the narrator and Blaine’s murder is the focus, and eventually a couple of investigators show up, there’s no need to muddy the waters with another handful of side characters.

Anyway, on the first night, everyone drinks too much and starts telling uncomfortable truths, so the following day, they’re all nursing various degrees of hangovers. By the time dinner rolls around, Kassidy has already almost died getting caught in a riptide (Blaine tries to save her and nearly drowns himself), and everyone’s sort of over it already. But Blaine doesn’t come down to dinner because he’s…dead.

Eventually a couple of investigators show up. Well, one actual detective and a consultant named Pilar de Leon (who for some reason is always referred to by her full name). They have a pretty typical good cop/bad cop routine going. Pilar is sure everyone is lying (because they are), and it’s sort of funny that in the end she tells them that they're not quite as clever as they imagine themselves to be. But everyone is stuck together at the house as a giant storm rolls in, the kids are all stuck in their 1920s costumes, having sent their real clothes back to the mainland. It’s a real trip, and I would love to see this get the miniseries treatment (provided it can stick to a single season).

The one thing that bugged me (other than the rant under the spoiler cut) is the way the flashbacks are presented. So everyone has a pretty decent motive for murder, and the flashbacks lay that out more clearly. But while the present day stuff is narrated in first person by Izzy, the flashbacks are all in 3rd person. I get that since Izzy isn’t present for all of this stuff, it wouldn’t make sense for it to be in first person, and it might be *more* jarring to switch POVs to the other characters solely for flashbacks. I’m not sure if there is a better way to do this, but it was definitely an odd choice, and something I think would play much better on screen than on the page. So often I find myself wishing that stories with excessive flashbacks were just told chronologically, as I think they can be a crutch to avoid giving away too much detail too soon in a story with a thin plot. I think the flashbacks here are definitely necessary, and it also makes sense to present them *as flashbacks*, rather than trying to tell the story in order (that would have been boring - so much build up before getting to the fireworks factory!).

But overall this is enormously fun, and I’m excited to see what Lauren Munoz writes next (what a great debut!). This reminded me a lot of Nine Liars, and is in fact sort of what I wished that story would have been instead - just focusing on the friends and the murder, rather than bringing in the investigators.

I was so frustrated throughout this book because I knew the main character was purposefully misleading us with her knife and all the implied meaning, but I didn't know what was actually happening!! And by the time I found out, I wasn't all that interested anymore. I did, however, really like the (not) detective who has come in to help the investigation. Her entire character was nicely fleshed out and really drew me in. The overall resolution for all of the teens left me sad, and not much liking any of them. It reminds me of Donna Tartt.

It takes a lot for me to read a mystery these days. I really only read like 3 a year and I'm glad Suddenly a Murder is on this list. Pilar de Leon is going to give Benoit Blanc and Hercule Poirot a run for their money in the murder solving business. This book blended the vibes of Knives Out and Truly Devious in a fun and fresh take on the whodunnit. While I had a feeling who did it probably a third of the way through the book I still enjoyed seeing the secrets unravel. A riveting and exciting debut that'll firmly put Lauren on the YA murder mystery scene.

(cw: mentions of student/teacher (adult/minor) relationship, off page murder with on page dead body, mentions of deportation, off page parent death)

3/5 stars! This story kind of works as a YA mystery story, but I couldn't find myself pulled into the story. I read it and it was fine, but nothing stuck out as special to me. I would probably try another book by this author to see if it's a one-off. I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This story had so much potential but it was really boring. I was waiting and waiting for something to happen. Finally, when something did happen, it quickly went right back to being boring. The ending was also disappointing. I was so excited to read this because of the 20s-themed party mixed with a murder mystery but it didn’t live up to the hype.

Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Munoz

I am such a fan of secluded setting murder mysteries and Suddenly a Murder hit that sweet spot!

When a murder occurs among teens at a 1920’s themed party, everyone’s a suspect. With a cast of characters straight out of a Christie novel, each one has a unique persona to focus on.

This is such a fun story to get to the center of! I loved the plot twists and the sheer fun of guessing what the big secret is. A true whodunnit with a teen party vibe.

My thanks to @PenguinTeen for this gifted copy!

Seven friends throw a 1920s themed party at the glamorous Ashwood Manor. There, Izzy and her friends party in vintage dresses and expensive diamonds--until Kassidy's boyfriend turns up dead. Someone brought a knife to the party. Now every party guest is a suspect. To find the killer, everyone must stay locked in and undergo investigation. Suddenly a Murder is basically a mix up of One of Us Is Lying, Clue, and The White Lotus.

Thank you to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for providing me with a review copy.

3/5 stars

I was really excited for this book because it’s a murder mystery where the kids were pretending to be in a 1920s party — it’s a perfect cocktail for a good book.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the formatting of the book was for me. Most of the book was spent in a closet where we observe the interviews rather than us finding clues and picking things apart. It was literally tell and not show. The biggest plot twist — and the reason for the murder also felt out of left field with no real build up?

Overall, the premise was good and it just needs some more refinement for it to be a solid murder mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book!

I love a good locked-room mystery and this one was quite unique. Six recent high school graduates have a week-long 1920s themed stay at a historic home on its own island. The glamour was fabulous, relationship (and situationship) drama was high, and the plot was well-paced. This was definitely a book I could see as a mini-series on HBO.

This is the kind of book where I probably should have guessed the twist, but I managed to get completely off track. The overall concept for SUDDENLY A MURDER is intriguing, the drama of high school friendships mixed with a period-appropriate 1920s party after graduation. To some degree the drama doesn’t even have to be realistic because it’s clear these aren’t exactly normal teenagers. The narrative itself is a little confusing, I wasn’t able to clearly figure out what the mystery was until about a third into the book, although I think that the twists were decently well-laid. Overall I think that some of the elements that didn’t work for me were because I’m not a huge mystery lover, but I also think that some elements could have been made clearer and could have been done so without harming the twists of the mystery. If you’re a mystery fan or like one that’s laid out through a mixture of suspect interviews and flashbacks, this is a book worth reading!

The character exploration within the book was an especially interesting element and something that I think was done really well at different points. There’s almost a movie-like quality to some of it as plot twist plotlines weave together the characters in unexpected ways. But at the same time, some of the twists or connections didn’t feel like they contributed to the overall story in the same way. While I would say as a whole I relatively enjoyed the book, I also have a lot of mixed feelings, all the way to almost complete ambivalence edging on distaste for the romantic subplot.

Overall this is a pretty good book, and I liked the big twist and how it was led up to. There were no particular elements that made it bad, just some that were more frustrating or dissatisfying, some out of personal preference and some over what could have been a lack of development.

Such a fun read!

Rating: 4/ 5

Suddenly a murder was a very fun read that was full of twists. I thought I had it all figured out but let me tell you that I most definitely did not! I really enjoy the author's writing and had fun getting to know the character and just making up a bunch of theories trying to figured out what had happened. I think if you enjoy mysteries this will be fun! It is a YA adult mystery and I liked that it was not super heavy. I needed a pallet cleanse and this was perfect. This is the perfect book to get you out of a reading slump! I would like to give a shout out to the writer because I am not usually a fan of books where you jump from the present to the past. Mainly because I get lost but in my opinion it was done flawlessly on this book. It was easy to follow the storyline and I really enjoyed it. Totally recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley and PenguinTeen for my galley!

I liked how this started but then it got really ridiculous and incredibly misleading but in a not interesting way. And I really didn't like the ending. But I liked the atmosphere. Hated these rich teens though.

I love a good YA murder mystery and this one did not disappoint. This story is about two best friends, Kassidy and Izzy, and the group of friends that go on a graduation trip together. When Kassidys boyfriend ends up murdered, it seems they all wanted him dead. Pilar is a consultant that is helping with the case and she is a female Poirot. I loved her style in solving this. Would love to see more books with Pilar. Will most definitely be purchasing this for our library

What a FUN read! Murder mystery in a YA book! I loved this one on audio and thought it was such a fun take on YA mystery/thrillers. An old-fashioned themed weekend with a bunch of teens who all have secrets. There's drama, there's murder, there's a power outage...I really liked it!

Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Munoz is a story of seven friends celebrating the end of their senior year with a 1920's themed getaway at a remote island. Their days are filled with elaborate costumes inside the luxurious Ashwood Manor until one of them turns up dead. With only one way to and from the secluded estate island, everyone is a murder suspect.

This debut novel is a fast-paced, cunning locked room mystery that was hard to crack. Just when I thought I had it figured out, more clues would be uncovered and more hints would be dropped. I absolutely loved all the dirty little secrets and twists and turns of this story. I cannot wait to read more from this author.